190 California Guard and Reserve service members nominated their employers for the 2010 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award, the highest recognition given by the U.S. Government to employers for their outstanding support of their employees who serve in the Guard and Reserve. The Freedom Award is particularly significant because only members of the Guard and Reserve or their family members are eligible to nominate their employers for the award.

See below for a list of California employers nominated for the Freedom Award, or visit www.FreedomAward.mil.

Nearly 2,500 Guard and Reserve service members, or their families, from across the country nominated their employers for outstanding support. Nominated employers, ranging from small to large businesses and public sector employers, demonstrated support by providing continued benefits, differential pay, and family assistance. A national selection board comprised of senior defense officials and business leaders will select up to 15 recipients for the 2010 award. The Department of Defense will announce the 2010 Freedom Award recipients this summer. Recipients will be presented the Freedom Award at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. on September 23, 2010.

About ESGR & the Freedom Award

The Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award was instituted in 1996 under the auspices of Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR). ESGR is a Department of Defense agency established in 1972 whose mission is to gain and maintain employer support for Guard and Reserve Service by recognizing outstanding support, increasing awareness of the law and resolving conflict through mediation. Since 1996, only 130 companies have been presented with the prestigious Freedom Award. Previous honorees include Microsoft, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Sears, Home Depot, the State of Delaware, the Santa Ana, California Police Department and the family owned farm Augustine & Sons in Rose Hill, Iowa. For more information, please visit www.FreedomAward.mil

The following employers were nominated for the Freedom Award:

U.S. Coast Guard	Alameda
Hisco Inc.	Anaheim
Source Refrigeration and HVAC Inc	Anaheim
Christian and Associates	Anaheim
A-Action Towing	Apple Valley
United States Postal Service	Apple Valley
SRT Helicopters	Bakersfield
Aera Energy, LLC	Bakersfield
St. John Bosco High School	Bellflower
Grant Tani Barash and Altman, LLC	Beverly Hills
City of Beverly Hills	Beverly Hills
Bank of America	Brea
Calipatria Unified School District	Calipatria
San Diego County Probation Department	Campo
International Aerospace Insurance Services Inc	Carpinteria
AGIA Inc.	Carpinteria
Desert Lexus	Cathedral City
Bergman Co.	Chino
Costco	Citrus Heights
Ralph's Grocery Stores	Compton
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners	Concord
GNG Termite Control Inc.	Concord
Hoover Printing	Costa Mesa
Dept. of Corrections	Delano
Los Angeles County Police	Downey
412th Maintenance Group Propulsion Shop	Edwards AFB
Federal Air Marshal Service	El Segundo
Home Depot	Elk Grove
Advantage Rental Purchase	Eureka
Fairfield Police Department	Fairfield
SureFire, LLC	Fountain Valley
San Joaquin General Hospital	French Camp
Fresno County Sheriff's Office	Fresno
Raytheon - Network Centric Systems	Fullerton
Garden Grove High School	Garden Grove
Kaidiak Industries	Gilroy
Public Storage	Glendale
KCAL Insurance agency	Hacienda Heights
St. John Knits Inc.	Irvine
In and Out Corporation	Irvine
Verizon Wireless	Irvine
Irvine Police Department	Irvine
Desert Sands Unified School District	La Quinta
Rite Aid Southwest Customer Support Center	Lancaster
University of Antelope Valley	Lancaster
Quail H Farms, LLC	Livingston
Long Beach Firefighters Local # 372	Long Beach
Long Beach Public Library	Long Beach
University of Southern California	Los Angeles
Los Angeles Police Department	Los Angeles
Federal Bureau of Investigation	Los Angeles
Manatt Phelps and Phillips LLP	Los Angeles
Los Angeles Police Department	Los Angeles
CNN - Los Angeles Bureau	Los Angeles
Wilshire Park Dental Group	Los Angeles
Conoco-Phillips	Los Angeles
Girardi and Keese	Los Angeles
Los Angeles Fire Department	Los Angeles
American Career College	Los Angeles
Northrop Grumman	Los Angeles
Tesoro Golden Eagle Refinery	Martinez
NASA Ames Research Center	Moffett Field
Intuit	Mountain View
WorkHealth/Queen of The Valley Medical Center	Napa
The TriZetto Group	Newport Beach
Mark A. Thomas Ministries	Norco
Commercial Interiors West	North Highlands
Office of Disability and Adjudication Review	Oakland
California Dept of Transportation	Oakland
BART	Oakland
POSTAL ANNEX 6017	Oceanside
UPS	Ontario
DRE Power and Cabling	Orange
Lockheed-Martin Aeronautics Company	Palmdale
Sutter Health	Palo Alto
Hewlett-Packard	Palo Alto
Paso Robles Police Department	Paso Robles
ADP	Pleasanton
Polycom	Pleasanton
General Atomics Aeronautical	Poway
Digirad	Poway
USDA Forest Service	Quincy
AEROJET	Rancho Cordova
Agua Caliente Casino	Rancho Mirage
Wal-Mart Distribution Center	Red Bluff
Redding Police Department	Redding
Oracle	Redwood City
Riverside County Parks	Riverside
Sacramento City Fire Department	Sacramento
Natomas Basin Conservancy	Sacramento
AT&T	Sacramento
Wells Fargo	Sacramento
Schools Financial Credit Union	Sacramento
Sacramento Municipal Utility District	Sacramento
Department of Transportation	Sacramento
Regis Contractors	Sacto
Central Coast Coast Pediatric Dental Group	Salinas
The Sun	San Bernardino
Natus Medical Incorporated	San Carlos
Navy Marine Corps Intranet/ HP	San Diego
Faircloth Engineering Services Inc	San Diego
Kaiser Permanente San Diego	San Diego
California Department of Veteran Affairs	San Diego
BD	San Diego
US Border Patrol/Brf station	San Diego
NASSCO	San Diego
California Attorney General's Office	San Diego
BAE Systems	San Diego
DLA Piper	San Diego
Qualcomm Incorporated	San Diego
SPAWAR Pacific Code 5914	San Diego
The San Diego Union-Tribune	San Diego
Syzygy Technologies Inc.	San Diego
Cubic Applications Inc.	San Diego
Booz Allen Hamilton	San Diego
San Diego County Regional Airport Authority	San Diego
CareFusion	San Diego
SONY Electronics Inc.	San Diego
Habeas Corpurs Resource Center	San Francisco
Pacific Gas and Electric Co.	San Francisco
Levis Strauss and Co.	San Francisco
Bill Bragg Plumbing	San Francisco
VISA	San Francisco
Wells Fargo and Company	San Francisco
Santa Clara Valley Medical Center	San Jose
Cadence Design System	San Jose
County of Santa Clara	San Jose
Scates Construction	San Jose
Structural Integrity Associates Inc.	San Jose
Cisco Systems Inc	San Jose
Barbier Security Group	San Rafael
Embassy Suites	Santa Ana
RSCCD	Santa Ana
Abbott Hematology	Santa Clara
MSM Canadian Transport	Santa Fe Springs
San Diego County Sheriff's Dept.	Santee
City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks	Sherman Oaks
ChristyCanyon.com	Sherman Oaks
City of Simi Valley	Simi Valley
Baker Corp.	South Gate
Genentech	South San Francisco
Stockton Police Department	Stockton
Lincoln Prop LTD	Stockton
Applied Materials Inc.	Sunnyvale
St. Jude Medical	Sylmar
Providence Tarzana Medical Center	Tarzana
Intelligent Systems Research Inc	Thousand Oaks
City of Thousand Oaks	Thousand Oaks
Kings Hawaiian Holding	Torrance
The Reynolds Group	Tustin
Southwest Region Fleet Transportation 29 Palms	Twentynine Palms
California Highway Patrol	Vallejo
InDyne Inc.	Vandenberg AFB
Valley Emergency Physicians	Walnut Creek
Montague DeRose and Associates	Walnut Creek
Holt of California	West Sacramento
NEI Software Inc.	Westminster
Sutter County Animal Control	Yuba City
Yuba City Police Department	Yuba City
Sutter County Board of Supervisors	Yuba City